Reviews

Help Wanted Nights

While Tim Kasher's main project, Cursive, can rage and crash like a sloppy barroom brawl, his side-project the Good Life is like the lonely tunes you'd hear playing on a jukebox in a dim, empty watering hole. Maybe that's why Help Wanted Nights, its latest offering, revolves around a script Kasher wrote about a stranger who spends one week hanging around a small-town dive after his car broke down. The band utilizes country's dark undertones along with pop dynamics to craft hushed introspections and abrupt bursts of optimism. Kasher rides these all with his tortured-drunk-artist woe and a healthy dash of surprising sarcasm. If Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst were more drunk uncle than charming kid brother, he'd embrace the clunky acoustics and occasional indie-pop forays that make up the Good Life. Fourth of July, Capgun Coup and Tightrope Kaleidscope open at 9 p.m. at the Grog Shop (2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., 216.321.5588). Tickets $10.